Well folks it's a labour of love isn't it...I was always happy with the Nacra 6 way of moving through the water and it's aggressive turn of speed. Happy enough to pause before buying a used Inter 20 at least or one of a number of $10,000 or so Marstrom Tornado's that are turning up (wrong end of the country thus far) so using my existing 1996 platform that had sat parked for a good few years in a warehouse I have embarked on a rebuilding program:Step 1.All new and absolutely gorgeous sails from Calverts-Thanks Ric and Dave thy are fantastic.All new standing and running riggingAll new pole and fittingsVarious new blocks and linesNew trampRace fairing the foilsVarious sundriesUh oh small dent in mast below hounds equals all new mast.Well good thing I sold all of the motorcycles to get back into this.It is amazing how it adds up.Notwithstanding the efficient beauty of some of these new planing hulls I still like the Nacra 6.0 even if most folks seem to have moved on.For used Inter buy in money I am going to have a lot of fun when we splash it in Galveston this weekend. My 10 and 9 year old lads have new Magic Marine harnesses and we are going to roar around a bit without the chute until the new stick gets to Stix n Rign. There do not seem to be many active on the internet who are followers of this vintage class and most appear to be semi abandoned. Such a shame. From memories of back to back trials a few years back my earlier 6 spanked the Inter on some points of sail.Has anyone tried those 11 ft beams on it from the (18 sq?). There is no active class so might as well go all out.Are there any surviving carbo sticks out there?Hope this email surfaces a few 6ers

Thanks to Rick Bliss of New England CatamaransDave Calvert, Whitey and Kevin Wilson from Stix n Rign.New MastNew RiggingNew SailsNew String Have a North Wave Mast on the way for pole #1 and various bits of carbon fiber ex helicopter parts for building some bracing.New square top and mast are very powerful. I would say that acceleration out of tacks is now "profound"Oversize Jib sheets beautifully.Lots to come as we work up...

I must have met, sailed with or against you, not sure who you are though.

The 6.0 is a great boat, for lots of things.

I had bought Kevin Wilsons' N 6.0 from him, years ago. I was there when he got it and first sailed it. I had my P18-2 then. He had one of the first batch of NA's.

I guess whoever has seen this 'dent' in your mast feels you need a new one. The 6.0 mast is a beast, with it's double diamonds, thick extrusion, etc. Theey can fail, (mine did eventually, after bending back an inversion with about a dozen fellos dike sailors at the dike on day, and using it for years, in major races). But it must be a big dent.

Tweaking it for good control flying a chute is a bit of work, that you'll enjoy no doubt.

That same old 6.0, still is around Houston, sail #111, Rick 'get -r -done' has it now. You may want to ask him about the new 'Texas Flag' chute I sold it with, that he doesn't use.

Well thanks for the reply.High aspect screecher more like.I have been busy cutting up broken $2,000 cf bike frames to mate with my spin pole in interesting ways. So far I have a couple of braces and and mounting for my roller furler. Pics soon. Helicopter parts were returned to father in law when he saw what I was about to do with them (drive shafts for tail rotor).I have a beautiful anodized black new mast with all new fittings. Complete article. It makes a big difference. The whole boat is alive under this new canvas and stick. The flickr photos are still up and more accessible. Will post video when I get it.Interesting what you say re the mast. It is quite heavy vs the Prindle 19 mast say. Still the boat seems little different in weight to the latest and greatest. I stuck with it because I had it, I like it and saw no point in changing to another 20ft design. I make the best of the time I have to go sailing and rally it's just a plaything. I will race long distance next year for sure whilst considering alternate, additional boats. I wil se how quick my son's come along. All I can say is that being back on cats is a lot more fun than running/ racing our J105 (Ex Kat's Meow) and much easier on the funds. I spent more on sails in a season than I have in the entire NA and have 10X fun without any of the earache. That's a bargain!!Doubt whether we have met. Boat has been stored for 10 years in a warehouse whilst I raced motorcycles or sailed the J.What the 'eck was that all about?I am ex Stokes Bay in the UK and used to go all over racing my NA back then as well as crewing on Tornados.

NA in UK?I really have no idea what mine was. It was the Euro championship winner from 1993? bought from Don Findlay then sold back and used by his son Peter I think to win the UK Nats mid Nineties (I think or maybe that was before I bought it).Mine had the foil and double diamonds. Might have been custom as the boat came from De Boer.

Easy enough I am Hamish Nicol from Stokes Bay SC back then. Mates with Tim Gerhard and John Kaye RIP. I used to sometimes sail with John on the road including his infamous stag weekend at Christchurch SC for some kind of travelers event. Howling windy in the bay. Hilariously big waves which with the passage of years were tsunami sized but were surely pretty big anyway.Last sailed my N6 in the UK at the Nats that were held at Sandown SC South of Isle of Wight with the Tornadoes. Apart from Will Sunnucks Tornado nearly slicing the top off my head on a port starboard cross (Well they started after us and i was'nt looking behind for rockets) the biggest and best part was the mad ride home in a big sea back into the Solent. That was when I entered the "Green Room" as well as had to solo home having lent my crew mid channel to Richard Power on his 19 after we righted it. Richard, ever the fastidious, had an entire camping set up, cooker etc lashed to his tramp which made for an interesting righting. Making the turn was rather nasty that day. We ran back so fast round Wight that I snapped a batten on a spreader when pitchpoling (maybe, who knows how it happened?).Did you ever sail Burt's beer Race at Ryde?

I have been trying to remember John's stag night. when you say Christchurch SC you must have meant Highcliffe SC because that's where we had the events. But I can't remember the stag night.

My wife has just come home and i have asked her and it is all clear now..

I don't remember it because I was not there, you oiks had organised a stripper, the wife got wind of it, we had a massive row and I had to stay at home! Zippy Gerard never could keep his mouth shut could he!

Highcliffe, Jesus what a night. We slept in Tim's horrific yellow microbus. All of us. I think we were supposed to stay at your house or that is what I was told. Now I know why we did'nt hahahah. Anyhow I had to bail early as I was so trashed. I did'nt even see the stripper.Dear John. He was UK Nacra and Prindle champ many times. I remember in the races that stag day I was calling the course for ever focused John on the 19 and seeing an absolute lunatic way way overstander come reaching down as neared the windward mark. This fellow was now coming from behind and higher with miles more way than us on a big breaking wave as fast as a cat can go in those big seas. I expected that he was going to pass in front, head up, probably stall and then miss the mark. I just saw him, told John to do exactly what I told him and stand on but pinch up slightly (he hated that) and ignore anything that might happen next. You know how John would lose it sometimes briefly if distracted. Anyhow whoever it was could'nt harden up and and just massively pitchpoled at full chat one boat to leeward one boat in front. John just turned to me with that look and shouted, "y++ b+st+rd" in his best NZ vowel depleted way. We never made it out for Sunday we were so wrecked.I am still in touch with Tim. I was off sailing when I went to the Middle East for a few years and then ran a J105 for my lawyer wife. Very boring so started racing motorcycles for a while as I had done in the Middle East. Just got back into it with the Nacra as we already had it in a warehouse gathering dust. Running this now very custom NA6 that we had stored and figuring out what to do next. Boys are sailing too as crew. We are having immense fun. Depending how things go Tornado is probable next bet.I see that the Tornados are very active at Stokes but we are in the USA at least for a bit longer. At least until we start drilling for gas in the Kimmeridge.Good to hear from you Paul. I am still fairly crap as a helm but who cares when you have that much power.

So finally I found specialist ss welder John in Houston and have had him weld up some stainless fittings for the repurposed North Ezzy Wave mast. 3 collars in all to take the various spreaders and stays as well as mount the screecher a bit more nicely. The middle fitting mounts permanently to the lower pole and carries the spreaders below.This work will be photographed when I return to Houston and posted on here. The tack welded bits were perfect fits and machined prettily. Spreaders are similar in aspect to the kind of outrigger fittings for a fishing boat but using re-purposed Nacra spreaders (Thanks Rick). Should look very nice indeed when put together. The SS work looks gorgeous. We'll see if my rigging work matches up.Aim to be on water Sunday woohoo.

Yo Chumster it was good to meet on the weekend. In fact it was good to make so many new friends.A delightful group. 15 boats for fun sailing in a great venue makes Cat Alley special. Den is obviously a great host. It was nice that the family and our friends were made to feel welcome too. Makes it very easy for me to get as much sailing as I can.

Sadly, may not make it down this w/e because Kat broke a bone in her foot on Tuesday and is having it pinned tomorrow. She is absolutely furious at being out for 6 weeks.Will however try to make the Dash with new chute n all. the race sounds great fun.

Re Sunday: Two tremendous days of sailing mate. Especially the latter part of Sunday.I must say it myself but the old/ new Nacra 6 was going rather well. Thanks for the compliments on the boat. I still like these boats in the 18-20Kt conditions we apparently had during the latter part of Sunday with 2-3ft shorter setting seas. Even with my various novice crew/ child crew combos that I happily have on the boat we were going like the clappers with lots of control. Well done Mr Calvert on your rags mate. Bloody marvelous. The square top "makes" the 6. It seems that it the boat is every bit still competitive and being essentially a new sail/ rig combo on indoor stored hulls it has that "new boat feel" to me at least.

Does anyone have a rib so we could set some marks for some windward leewards with a gate? we could take it in turns to launch and retrieve.

When the wind is like that we could really do some spectacular showboat sailing heading on port up the beach to the lay line, set for the mark and then have a gate to reach down to also off the beach. It would be bloody excellent.

Dennis' house could be the race office. Informal racing only but good practice for those of us who are into it. I am not interested in screaming at novice or out of practice racers at the start or terrifying people at the mark. It spoils the weekend. There will be serious regattas on other days.I would like to have Dennis contact details. Hopefully he will let me crew on that gorgeous ARC22.